Thursday, December 22, 2011

Instead of a big list of best, last-minute holiday shopping on 34th Street, I'm mentioning just one awesome gift resource: The Compleat Strategist.

The Compleat Strategist is, on first glance, a hardcore gaming shop for the Dungeons & Dragons set. Do not let the dragons fool you.

There is a huge selection of the classics, and big set ups for chess and poker sets. Now, that's not to say you won't find a lot of stuff like "Gale Force Nine hobby tools" and fantasy role playing board games, but that's the beauty of it. Shopping The Compleat Strategist is a total adventure, because it's packed full of fascinating games you've never seen before. A lot of them seem to come from Germany.

A lot of unusual board games...

And a lot of classics.

Here's what I did, and you should too: tell the clerk exactly who you are shopping for. "I need a game for three boys, 9 and under, who love Legos, Star Wars, and Legos. Their basement is one big Lego set, and they have Star Wars wallpaper in their bathroom."

The clerk took me immediately to this:

"Carcassonne." It's a board game involving tiles, "meeples," and yes, it's German. I don't get it yet but I'm totally going to geek out on it with my nephews after Christmas. And I'm really excited to introduce them to something new and challenging, a game of strategy on a whole different level.

Excellent service, crazy-whack product you're not going to see in your massive toy store, and really ugly carpeting: this is one authentic game store. A perfect stop during your last-minute, holiday shopping rush.